Marc Thiessen: Trump could be the most honest president in modern history By Marc Thiessen | Fox News Facebook Twitter Flipboard Comments Print Email Trump continues tour of states with crucial races Donald Trump may be remembered as the most honest president in modern American history. Don't get me wrong, Trump lies all the time. He said that he "enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history" (actually they are the eighth largest) and that "our economy is the strongest it's ever been in the history of our country" (which may one day be true, but not yet). In part, it's a New York thing -- everything is the biggest and the best. But when it comes to the real barometer of presidential truthfulness -- keeping his promises -- Trump is a paragon of honesty. For better or worse, since taking office Trump has done exactly what he promised he would do. Trump kept his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something his three immediate predecessors also promised yet failed to do. He promised to "crush and destroy ISIS," and two years later he is on the verge of eliminating the Islamic State's physical caliphate. He promised to impose a travel ban on countries that he saw as posing a terrorist threat, and after several false starts the final version of his ban was upheld by the Supreme Court. He promised to punish Syria if it used chemical weapons on its people, and, unlike his immediate predecessor, he followed through -- not once but twice. Trump pledged to nominate Supreme Court justices "in the mold of Justice [Antonin] Scalia," and now Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh sit on the high court. Trump also pledged to fill the federal appellate courts with young, conservative judges, and so far the Senate has confirmed 26 -- more than any recent president at this point in his administration. Trump vowed to pass historic tax reforms, and signed the first major overhaul of the tax code in three decades. He vowed an unprecedented regulatory rollback, with a strict policy to eliminate two existing regulations for every new regulation. Instead, in his first year he eliminated 22 existing regulations for every new rule, achieved $8.1 billion in lifetime regulatory savings and is on track to achieve an additional $9.8 billion this year. During the campaign, he told African American voters, "What do you have to lose? ... I will straighten it out. I'll bring jobs back. We'll bring spirit back." On his watch, African American unemployment reached the lowest level ever recorded, and his tax reform included a little-noticed provision creating "Opportunity Zones" to try to revitalize struggling towns and inner-city communities. Trump promised to cancel President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, withdraw from the Paris climate accord, approve the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. He fulfilled all of those pledges. On trade, he kept his promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. He also committed to renegotiating NAFTA and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement -- and recently signed new deals with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. He committed to imposing tariffs on China to force it to open its markets and stop its theft of intellectual property -- and is following through on that pledge. Whatever one thinks of Trump's trade policies, he is doing exactly what he said. The president pledged historic increases in defense spending, and delivered. He pledged to bring back manufacturing jobs, and manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest pace in more than two decades. He pledged to sign "Right to Try" legislation to give dying Americans access to experimental treatments, and did. He pledged to take on the opioid epidemic, and will soon sign a sweeping bipartisan opioids package into law. Where Trump has failed to keep promises, such as building the wall or repealing Obamacare, it has not been for a lack of trying. Only in a few rare instances has he backtracked on a campaign pledge -- such as when he admitted that he was wrong to promise a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and reversed course. I'm glad he did. But whether one agrees or disagrees is not the point. When Trump says he will do something, you can take it to the bank. Yes, he takes liberties with the truth. But unlike his predecessor, he did not pass his signature legislative achievement on the basis of a lie ("If you like your health care plan, you can keep it") -- which is clearly worse than falsely bragging that your tax cut is the biggest ever. The fact is, in his first two years, Trump has compiled a remarkable record of presidential promise-keeping. He'd probably say it's the best in history -- which may or may not end up being true. It's too soon to tell.
Lock her up? Nope Beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for ? Nope Universal heatlh care for all? Nope Cut the deficit ? Nope Repeal Obamacare? Nope Go after Wall Street and Hedge funds? Nope Big infustrucure improvements ? Nope End common core? Nope Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress? nope ethics reforms to reduce the corrupting influence of special interests? Nope Make two- and four-year college more affordable ? Nope Cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities? Nope Allow Americans to deduct child care and elder care from their taxes ? Nope Give a middle-class family with two children a 35 percent tax cut ? Nope Propose and pass tax simplification bill in which the largest tax reductions are for the middle class? Nope Provide veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice? Nope Let states manage Medicaid funds? Nope Direct the secretary of the treasury to label China a currency manipulator? Nope Redirect education money to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice?Nope Impose a five-year ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service? Nope etc etc etc
None of those lies hurt people or cost them money or their health care. Like Obamacare did... ...and that's why he will win a 2nd term. yuk, yuk, yuk
President Donald Trump has certainly, tried to keep all his campaign promises as opposed to most politicians in office, who promise you all good things then, when elected in office do the exact opposite of what they promised you and just outright betray you! With all his successes so far, if he is able to keep more of his promises down the road, I have no doubt he will be regarded as the greatest US President ever! Now, he will deserve such accolade because he has been working hard to in fact to make the US as best as he can make it! Give the guy credit for what he has done for the economy, foreign trade, diplomacy, seeking better relations with most countries, securing our borders, for simply loving the US as most Americans should!
More people have healthcare due to Obamacare. Trump promised to repeal and replace Obamacare with universal heathcare but tax and regulation cuts for the rich is more important to him than heatlhcare and border walls
Bush 2,Ford and Carter had approval ratings less than 48 % prior to re election,Trump is at 41.9 yuk, yuk, yuk
Obama spent virtually the entire first term sub 50% approval. Big deal. Trump kicked Hillary’s ass with obscenely low approval ratings. Won by 80 electoral votes???